Game Preview: ‘Long Gone Days’

In a industry that is currently filled to the brim with all manner of war time game, all vying to tell the story of grizzled and conflicted solders left to fend and decide in a world not as black and white as they first thought, Long Gone Days is not just unique entry into the genre of wartime games…

It has reinvigorated the genre for me.

Made by indie developer BURA, Long Gone Days is the story of Rourke, soldier of The Core, who after learning the truth of his current assignment, deserts.

But in a world engaged in war, can you ever truly escape it?

The game play is engaging in that it is a RPG but not stlyed like a regular one. The combat system is based on maintaining your party’s health and morale. This may be a role play game but there is no fantasy elements which helps make the genre mix even more unique. Too often are rpgs that follow soldiers bogged down by grander schemes and mechanizations of super villainy, that isnt something I got from the Long Gone Days demo. Rourke felt like a character who was grounded yet trapped in a dire situation. The game has no random encounters or level grinding elements, instead toting a combat system that only has plot driven gun battles and sniper conflicts. You are able to individually target body parts of enemy soldiers, the portion you target will have different read-outs of damage and the chance your enemy will have to dodge. When paired with the skills you can learn and acquire, you have to see if it is worth the chance to miss and waste 1 of the 5 incendiary bullets you have left to go for a headshot or to use all 5 on the enemy’s torso.

Victory will occasionally give your squad members new abilities and items that make sense in the context of the story.

All of this is displayed in a brilliant mix of pixel art and anime styled art. It was something that i really enjoyed. The look of the characters painted them for me in terms of personality alongside the great dialog and interactions they had. The story is of the conflict that soldiers experience with the tasks give to them and emotional struggle they have to deal with, especially in the idea of a global community. A interesting portion of the game play is the fact that not everyone speaks the same language. You will need the help of translators and that is a understatement. Te level of realism that comes from that system and that the game in total is so freshing and captivating.

If it isn’t obvious, I really enjoyed Long Gone Days. To try it for yourself, there is a demo you can download for free via Steam, itch.io, and Game Jolt , while we all wait for the game’s expected Q1 2018 release.

You can track the games progress and get even more info on it by:
Liking them on Facebook
Following them on Twitter
Checking out their Tumblr
Giving them a follow on Instagram
And Subscribing to them on YouTube

I know I can’t wait for this interesting game to be ready for us to fully play in 2018!

(All images and videos belong to BURA)